"HiTEC 061-063 — Visionary Arts Festival": HiTEC (Histrionic Thought Experiment Cooperative) was originally proposed as "Sonic Aughts Union" by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE after a May 2008 gig in the Carnegie Public Library Oakland branch with separate sets by t,ac; Margaret Cox; Rick Gribenas; & Steve Boyle. The name was a take-off on the Sonic Arts Union, a group that t,ac admired. The original SAU had 4 main members who only did solo pieces & never collaborated with each other. This struck t,ac as a short-coming that he hoped to correct in this 2nd SAU. When "Sonic Aughts Union" failed to materialize as cONVENIENCE originally imagined, it transformed into HiTEC & into more orchestral dimensions. Its 1st rehearsal was on July 14, 2008. In an attempt to document every rehearsal, mini-dv was shot, sometimes w/ 2 cameras, sometimes w/ the camera(s) only on (a) tripod(s), sometimes w/ camera operators - & explanatory titles have been added. The numbers in the title represent the number of the session/rehearsal & the letters represent the sub-group of HiTEC that was rehearsing. There were as many as 3 sessions/rehearsals a week, tENT was the person conducting all of those (with 3 exceptions) & tENT asked that all "Systems Managers", as the players were called, rehearse at least 8 times before being considered ready for public performance - which amounted to, roughly, one rehearsal every 2 weeks. Some of the Systems Managers seemed to consider themselves 'too good' to have to rehearse so much. They were wrong. Many people came & went, auditioning with us only once & then deciding it wasn't for them. Originally, tENT had wanted to have dancers but the people who initially tried to participate as such didn't like it. It was probably too conceptual for them. HiTEC, at its peak, had 22 members although all 22 never played at once. The highest amount ever playing together was 21 at our 2nd gig.
These 61st, 62nd, & 63rd incarnations were at 3 consecutive nights at the Visionary Arts Festival & the Systems Managers were:
061-FULL-GROUP(18) - Friday, August 7, 2009 - Visionary Arts Festival, Schenley Plaza - Audience left to right: Johan Nystrom: extended percussion, camera; Mike Tamburo: hammered dulcimer, clarinet, amplified string & contact mic; Ben Harris: violin; Jonathan Brodsky: monome with mabalhabla software; William Wedler: Experiment 1; Unfinished Symphonies: electronic keyboard; joy toujours: trombone; Mike Kasunic: electronics; tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: electronics, percussion; Hyla Willis: amplified erhu, Jamaican seed pod; Tony Balko: SM camcorder; Ben Opie: alto sax, tube w/ reed, small percussion; Kenny Haney: clarinets; James Gyre: drum set; Spat Cannon: acoustic bass; Dani Simmonds: ukulele, electronics; Josh Beyer: Baribanjolo; Roger Dannenberg: McBlare, trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet, SysMan
062-FULL-GROUP(17) - Saturday, August 8, 2009 - Visionary Arts Festival, Schenley Plaza - Audience left to right: [masked] Kerrith Livengood: electric guitar, etc..; Ben Harris: violin; Jonathan Brodsky: monome with mabalhabla software; William Wedler: Experiment 1; Unfinished Symphonies: electronic keyboard, tambourine; joy toujours: violin; Red Bob Jungkunz: drums; Mike Kasunic: electric guitar; tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: electronics, percussion; Hyla Willis: amplified erhu, Jamaican seed pod; Tony Balko: SM camcorder; Ben Opie: alto sax, tube w/ reed, small percussion; Kenny Haney: clarinets; Spat Cannon: acoustic bass [had to leave slightly before the end]; Dani Simmonds: tenor guitar, electronics; Josh Beyer: acoustic guitar; Roger Dannenberg: McBlare, trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet, SysMan
063-FULL-GROUP(15) - Sunday, August 9, 2009 - Visionary Arts Festival, Schenley Plaza - Audience left to right: Ben Harris: violin; Mike Tamburo: hammered dulcimer, clarinet, amplified string & contact mic; Jonathan Brodsky: monome with mabalhabla software; Unfinished Symphonies: electronic keyboard; joy toujours: violin, amplified toy stuffed animal; Red Bob Jungkunz: drums; Mike Kasunic: electric guitar; tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: electronics, percussion; Hyla Willis: amplified erhu, Jamaican seed pod; Tony Balko: SM camcorder; Ben Opie: alto sax, tube w/ reed, small percussion; Kenny Haney: clarinets; James Gyre: drum set; Spat Cannon: acoustic bass; Roger Dannenberg: McBlare, trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet, SysMan
Alberto Almarza had previously invited tENT to guest lecture in his "Worlds Within Worlds" class at the Mattress Factory. He'd also shot footage of HiTEC's performance as part of "The End of Television" organized by Ian Page. Even more extraordinarily, he invited HiTEC to play as the twilight act for every night of the Visionary Arts Festival that he was the founder & organizer of. The 1st document of HiTEC's big premier at the New Hazlett has copious explanations of what's happening & features the entire UNCERT (Uncertainty Concert). The 2nd document of HiTEC's big 2nd gig at "The End of Television" is visually somewhat disruptive of discursive content but more or less features the whole gig. This next document in the series combines more edited 'highlights' version of all 3 of the nights interspersed with other footage of the VAF. tENT's editing decisions were made in hopes that people might someday ACTUALLY WANT TO WITNESS ALL OF THEM instead of just skimming over one or the other. tENT's editing also presents increasingly sophisticated technique. Johan Nystrom, who had moved away to Philadelphia, came back especially for HiTEC 061. This movie also shows the HiTEC books being made. The audience members who were sitting outside the pavilion missed most of the visuals.
- May 3, 2019 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
